Arai Research Lab
Environmental Soil and Water Chemistry
Research
Dr. Arai's research interest is to understand the molecular level chemical reactions of nutrients (e.g., Mo and P), metal(loid)s (e.g., As, Ni, Cu, and Hg) and radionuclides (e.g., U) in soils/sediments, at the mineral-water interface, and in aquatic organisms (e.g., phytoplankton) that are responsible for the field-scale processes (e.g., nutrient cycling and bioaccumulation). We are especially interested in (a)biotically influenced partitioning (i.e., adsorption, desorption, precipitation, and dissolution) and redox reactions of contaminants at the mineral-water interface. In our research group, we employ a cadre of macroscopic and molecular scale approaches and tools over a range of temporal scales. Generally, traditional macroscopic data (e.g., chemical extractability and the rate of adsorption and desorption) are complimented with molecular scale information to better understand the mechanisms responsible for macroscopic reactions. My main research areas are environmental soil chemistry, low-temperature geochemistry, materials science, environmental chemistry, and molecular environmental toxicology.
What am I expecting from my graduate students?
Graduate students are assigned to conduct their research in one or more research areas listed below. Depending on funding sources, Dr. Arai will provide specific research projests for your M.S or Ph.D research and or education project. Our research program generally deals with environmental chemistry of inorganic/organic contaminants in soils, sediments and water. While students will go through vigorous training in wet chemistry experiments (e.g., chemical extraction digestion, batch sorption desorption, column), they will be also trained in electron microscopy and synchrotron based X-ray techniques. I expect spectroscopic data to compliment the macroscopic data to understand the mechanistic information of contaminant partitioning in geomedia. If necessary, there are options to use X-ray Photon spectroscopy and vibrational spectroscopy includes ATR-FTIR, AFM, NMR, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS.